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The LSU Board of Supervisors announced today that the proposal to raise prices on football/baseball tickets, and parking has been removed from the agenda for its meeting on Friday October 25th. Athletics Director Joe Alleva will instead present the athletic department’s case as to why it’s recommending a price increase.

Louisiana State University said the price hikes, scheduled for 2014 football season and the 2015 baseball season will be considered at the meeting Friday, but did not comment on why the LSU ticket price increase has been delayed.

Ironically enough, the decision to delay and further investigate increasing ticket prices comes on the heels of a difficult loss for the Tigers in last Saturday’s game vs Ole Miss in Oxford.

Some wonder, if the Tigers had beaten Ole Miss Saturday, would the LSU Board of Supervisors have delayed the price increase. Had LSU won, the Tigers would have been in the top 5 of the BCS, and positioned themselves for another trip to Atlanta for the SEC championship.

For fans, there’s never a good time to increase ticket prices, so selling a ticket price increase is difficult enough. Imagine then, how difficult selling a ticket price increase is after a loss that takes your team out of contention for a conference title.

What Is The Proposed LSU Ticket Price Increase?

Athletics Director Joe Alleva, wants permission to set ticket prices for home football games according to both the date and the opponent, in addition to boosting season ticket prices overall by 6 percent. The maximum increase would be $100, depending on where the tickets are located in Tiger Stadium.

The proposal also would increase the costs of reserved car and RV parking places, allow sales taxes to be charged on tickets and would give authority to the LSU president, rather than the Board of Supervisors, to raise ticket and parking prices up to 10 percent in later seasons.

Why Might LSU Be Increasing Ticket Prices?

Tiger Stadium is currently undergoing expansion. The south end zone project is the third major expansion of Tiger Stadium in the last two decades.

The improvements will include, 65 suites over two levels, 3,000 stadium club seats, 1,500 upper deck seats and additional standing room only space. The project will increase the stadium’s seating capacity from 92,000 to 100,000.

More importantly, the project needed $75 million in privately-funded borrowing, and $25 million in bank loans. While the athletic department expects to recover most of this debt by leasing these newly built suites and initiating seat licensing fees, a ticket price increase might contribute to the recovery of $100 million, but that’s just College AD’s two cents.